The Union Jack dress is an item of clothing worn by singer Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls at the 1997 Brit Awards. The mini dress featured a flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Jack, on the front, and a white CND symbol emblazoned on the black-coloured back of the dress. The next day the images of the dress made the front page of various newspapers around the world, and is now remembered as one of the most iconic pop moments of the 1990s and Brit Awards history. The dress has become synonymous with the Spice Girls, Halliwell and the notions of Girl Power, and Cool Britannia. According to The Daily Telegraph, the dress came top in a 2010 online poll to find the 10 most iconic dresses of the past 50 years, beating other memorable garments such as Marilyn Monroe's white 'Seven Year Itch' halterneck. In 2016, the dress was voted the "Most Inspiring British Fashion Moment" in an online poll conducted by British online retailer Very. At the 2010 Brit Awards, the Spice Girls performance that featured the Union Jack dress won Most Memorable Performance of 30 Years. The dress held the Guinness World Record for the most expensive piece of popstar clothing sold at an auction. Background and history The Spice Girls were scheduled to open the 1997 Brit Awards, where they were also nominated for five awards. The black Gucci minidress that Halliwell was given to perform in concerned her as she thought it was too "boring". Halliwell decided she wanted to "celebrate being British" and asked her sister, Natalie, to stitch a Union Jack tea towel onto the front of the black dress as a patriotic gesture. To avoid being associated with the National Front, Halliwell also had the CND peace symbol stitched onto the back of the dress. Halliwell wore the finished dress whilst performing a medley of "Wannabe" and "Who Do You Think You Are" at the Brit Awards on 24 February 1997. The group also won two awards that evening. Sale In 1998, a year after Halliwell performed in the dress, she auctioned it off at the London branch of Sotheby's for £41,320. The buyer was Peter Morton, on behalf of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, who displayed the piece of clothing as pop memorabilia. Morton bid via telephone, and beat other bidders such as The Sun. Halliwell